Sport that becomes a means of redemption and inclusion. We have chosen to dedicate a cover to Olympic and Paralympic athletes who will participate in the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics because through sport we can overcome our limits and affirm ourselves. By telling you the stories of these talents, we want to tell you how sport is a means of personal growth and rebirth, but also of affirmation of oneself and one’s rights.
He can tell you Ambra Sabatini who, at just seventeen, had her left leg amputated above the kneeand while he was still in pain in his hospital bed in Florence he thought of only one thing: getting up and running again.
He can tell you about it Irma Testa, born in one of the most difficult neighborhoods of Torre Annunziata, for whom boxing has become synonymous with salvation and a different life, as well as a means of being able to assert themselves his homosexuality head held high without being afraid of being judged or discriminated against.
He confirms it Zaynab Dosso who arrived in Italy from the Ivory Coast when he was ten years old to join his parents. Thanks to a physical education teacher she discovered athletics. As a girl she ran faster than boys and she wants equal economic treatment and visibility for female athletes.
Then there they are Tommaso Marini, a 24-year-old fencer who had thought about quitting, but then he wanted to give it one last chance. And it went well.
Eleonora De Paolis who was a pole vaulter until, at the age of 25, due to a car accident he ended up in a wheelchair. «My family saw all my anger and I have to say thank you to them». For four years she did Paralympic rowing and, at Rio 2016, she fell in love with canoeing which for her is freedom.
But also Anna Barbaro and Charlotte Bonin. Charlotte has played sports all her life, competing in two Olympics. Anna Barbaro studied music and engineering and discovered sporting activity after an illness that took away her sight. The first comes from Valle d’Aosta, the second from Calabria. Triathlon – swimming, cycling and running – has united them inextricably.
Charlotte Bonin and Anna Barbaro
And how much can the story of Simone Barlaam teach us? Twenty-three years old, Paralympic swimming champion “In the water I have always felt lighter, more graceful, I learned to stay afloat before I learned to walk.” He has an excellent relationship with his “little leg”: “It made me who I am. She is my weakest part, but also the strongest».
Or Nicola Bartolini and Alessandra Chillemi? The first, 2021 world champion in floor exercise, 28 years old, the oldest on the team, spends eight hours a day in the gym, six days a week, to chase his dream.
Nicola Bartolini
Toiletpaper photo – Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo FerrariThe second, Italian breaking champion (break dancing is an Olympic discipline for the first time) still doesn’t know if she will arrive in Paris. She made her way in a male environment and dreams of representing Italy in the most important event.
Alessandra Chillemi
Toiletpaper photo – Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo FerrariThe stories of these athletes are a symbol and an example for all those who fight every day against obstacles, discrimination, injustices and denied rights to assert themselves and their identity.
Because we are all different in our labors, in our limits, in our struggles, but all equal in the need to have our uniqueness recognised.
Service by Daniela Narducci and Daniela Ravaglia.
Make-up Giulia Luciani, assistant Jasmine Franciosi @Simonebelliagency. Grooming Lorenzo Zavatta for Wemakeup.it. Hair Emanuele Vona using Alfaparf Milano Professional, assistant Francesco Termine @Etoile Management. Set designer Riccardo Fabiano @Nero Studio and Michela Natella. Producer on set For Production. Thanks to Toiletpaper team: Adriano Trentacosti, Micol Talso, Antonio Colomboni, Stefania Biliato and Lisa Colombo.
We thank CONI and CIP for their collaboration.
